$1bn saga: PDP calls on National Assembly members to take action against President Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Nigerians to reject and resist the renewed attempt by the Presidency to loot $1billion from the national coffers to finance President Muhammadu Buhari’s interests in the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s national convention and 2019 campaign.

The party also urged the National Assembly to commence appropriate constitutional legislative actions against President Buhari for gross misconduct in unilaterally approving the release of the fund without allowing for the application of legislative instrument.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Thursday, said its investigation revealed that the Presidency willfully sidestepped the National Assembly so as to avoid legislative scrutiny and accountability and pave way for the diverting of the fund for selfish partisan purposes.

It is a notorious fact that the Presidency and the APC have been plotting to loot this $I billion from our heavily depleted Excess Crude Account (ECA) since last year, using the guise of fight against insurgency.

This is the same Buhari administration that has been boasting of having technically defeated the insurgents. This is also an administration that is not known to have exhausted subsisting budgetary allocations for defense.

Nigerians are thoroughly disappointed that President Buhari; the same African Union (AU) ‘anti-corruption champion’, who swore to be above board and to protect the constitution and our laws, will allow himself to fall for the temptation of resorting to ways and means which are totally at variance with the laws and all democratic tenets.

Democracy thrives on constitutional processes of separation of powers, due diligence and transparency and not on totalitarian tendencies.

PDP believes the President, as a leader, reasonably ought to have known that he is in no way above the law.

We therefore urge the National Assembly to look into the constitution and impose appropriate legislative instruments against Mr President, if any part of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) has been breached by this unilateral decision.

We further urge the National Assembly to scrutinize the constitution and other statute books for the purposes of strengthening the laws guiding the application of funds in our country, particularly under this inherently corrupt and incompetent administration.

Moreover, since it has come to light that the Buhari administration is using the fight against insurgency as a conduit to siphon funds, as evinced in the alleged looting of the N18 billion Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)’s funds, we demand for an independent investigation into the processes of release and utilization of all special funds for war against insurgency in the last three years.

The APC is in shreds and has lost the enormous goodwill that brought it to power in 2015 after failing in all its promises to Nigerians.

Facebook Comments

2019: COSON rejects President Buhari and Atiku Abubakar’s party manifestos

The Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) has rejected the presidential manifestos made public by the presidential candidates of both the All Progressive Congress, President Buhari and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
COSON said that after reading both the #NextLevelNG manifesto of the APC and #TheAtikuPlan manifesto of the PDP, it is shocked that none of the candidates appears to have a plan to grow or develop the immense talent that exist in the Nigerian creative industry such as music, movies, theatre, fashion, content etc an area in which the Nigerian nation has significant comparative advantage and the youth have tremendous flair for.

COSON has said that the lack of strong policy positions in this area is evidence of the disconnect between the leadership and the followership in Nigeria. This is not withstanding the significant contribution said to have been made by the Nigerian creative industry when the Nigerian economy was rebased a few years ago under the Jonathan administration.
COSON has announced that the organization is inviting serious politicians to the COSON Arena to come and educate stakeholders in the creative industry on the concrete plans that they have to deploy the assets that the country has in this creative direction. It is the interaction of the industry with the politicians that will determine whom the thousands of members of COSON will endorse, support and campaign for and recommend to their fans to vote for.
Speaking on the decision, COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji said, “we are no longer going to stand on the sidelines. This is the era of the knowledge and creative economy and we will do whatever is necessary to make sure that our country is not just an onlooker in this new world but a key partaker and serious player, starting from 2019. We mean business”

Facebook Comments

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised Nigerians not to hand over the nation and democracy to people he described as ‘thieves and hooligans’. The former president said this when he spoke at the launch of Goodluck Jonathan’s book in Abuja, on Tuesday November 20th. Speaking at the event, Obasanjo said

“There is still no substitute for democracy when all is said and done. It fosters peace. It builds and does not destroy. It unifies, rather than divides. But all these can only happen if democracy is in the hands of democrats. If it is in the hands of thieves and hooligans, they can use it as a weapon. We should ensure hooligans don’t get it.”

The former president has since asked Nigerians to vote out the Buhari-led administration in 2019 and has openly declared his support for Atiku Abubakar, who is running as the PDP presidential candidate in next year’s election.